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But I'm amazed that their designers, and the businessmen who must be in the designers' pockets, were bold or desperate enough to expect such clumsy styling to appeal widely in a rather conservative marketplace.

Just be amazed, then. You clearly know very little about the market place, because the people who have the money are buying the boats that are being built. Buying a boat is a matter of personal choice and if the buyers don't like what is on offer they won't buy it, therefore nobody will make something that does not sell.

Not difficult to see what sort of boats today's buyer does not like by looking at the types which are no longer available new.

cos...they have never been faced with the decision about how to spend £100 or £150k of their own hard earned money.

Youch! How painfully, unhappily true. How dismal, that the burden of money to spend, almost always leads people to safe, unromantic choices. Read ugly, in the voluminous-modern-yacht-hull scenario.

You slightly remind me of my mother, twenty-five years ago, telling my sister that she ought to wear wellingtons at a beach party. Sensible, carefully considered, and desperately dull. My sis went in slender heels, which broke, of course.

Youch! How painfully, unhappily true. How dismal, that the burden of money to spend, almost always leads people to safe, unromantic choices. Read ugly, in the voluminous-modern-yacht-hull scenario.

You slightly remind me of my mother, twenty-five years ago, telling my sister that she ought to wear wellingtons at a beach party. Sensible, carefully considered, and desperately dull. My sis went in slender heels, which broke, of course.

Not at all. They are acting as rational consumers and trying to optimise the benefits to them. They clearly value the space, convenience and style of what they are buying over some romantic notions of beauty (which is in the eye of the beholder). Remember I own and paid full price for a Morgan as well as a Bavaria and an classic wooden boat. Each one has its charms and is well matched to what I want it for. Now I am just getting into my diesel Focus to go to do a bit of fiddling on the boat.

Youch! How painfully, unhappily true. How dismal, that the burden of money to spend, almost always leads people to safe, unromantic choices. Read ugly, in the voluminous-modern-yacht-hull scenario.

I rather suspect that having money to spend opens doors, rather than leads people to "safe, unromantic choices".
The fact that AWBs do appeal widely shows just how out-of-touch you are.
They are popular - not in spite of being "ugly", as you describe them. They are popular because they are, for many people, ideal.

QUOTE, from Tranona The people who have the money are buying the boats that are being built. Buying a boat is a matter of personal choice and if the buyers don't like what is on offer they won't buy it, therefore nobody will make something that does not sell.

I can't and don't deny that lots of modern designs succeed, but I believe that's mostly because they're NEW, ie low maintenance, not because they're modern. But I don't like many modern cars, either. Contemporary design makes not being able to afford things, much easier to bear!

Surely, Tranona, your own taste for very old cars and boats, set alongside the practical necessity of running modern equivalents, is the point: most of us would really prefer something that modern design just doesn't deliver. Fine for you, enjoying both! (That's humour, not burning envy. I do hope you enjoy a good season.)

QUOTE, from BBG, about the thing that looks like a dustpan:That boat just won an award in the European Boat of the Year awards. Best fast cruiser. It's a cruiser. And a beauty.

You so remind me of kids arguing about why their new bicycles/fluorescent skateboards/trainers are superior.

They may be ideal as floating caravans but they are not ideal as boats.

But that is what a lot of people look for. I've never denied that we buy floating Winnebagos - our boat is our flat by the sea - much cheaper to buy and run than a flat built out of bricks and concrete.

I think people saying the Contessa is a better boat o account of looks have very different priorities to me. It's how it sails that makes it the legend that it is. The same goes for the Swan 36 and dare I say it the Centurion 32.

Similarly, the Elan 350 is not pretty; but its one of the best boats I've ever sailed.